Looking for Merchant Services advice

[bfahlgren]

Hello,
I am looking for advice on a Merchant Services provider. I have read good reviews on these companies. Any others I should look at? Any of these that aren't particularly good? Any general suggestions?

• Flagship Merchant Services
• Merchant Warehouse
• Leaders Merchant Services
• Chase Paymentech

I appreciate your help.

 

[kulture]

These are US companies, no doubt you are likewise US. Since this is a UK forum, I suspect that not many of us can help.

 

[bfahlgren]

Kulture - I am looking for a UK merchant services provider for a new UK company. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[LMDServicesUK]

Hi

I work with a UK MSP that specialises in ecommerce for SME businesses, please can you advise what you will be selling, and will you be UK based ?

What services will you be wanting to provide (e.g. MasterCard, Visa Debit & Credit, recurring payment facilities ? ), whose shopping cart are you planning to use ?

As you will be starting up a new UK business you will need to provide a lot of info about the business (Bus plan, financial projections etc) and if you fall into a High Risk category probably more as well if you want to open an account with a UK MSP.

You will also need to have a UK registered address and Bank account.

If you prefer please PM me and I can provide you more information as to what you will need to get a UK merchant services account and payment gateway.

Finally are there any UK MSP's you would not want to work with ?

Kind regards

Mark

 

[CharityClear]

This is a useful and impartial comparison tool for payment gateways and merchant services.

www.paymentbrain.co.uk

Marc.

 

[LMDServicesUK]

This is a better site IMHO as it actually allows you to get rates based on your t/o and other parameters that you enter, rather than just taking you to a marketing web page.

PaymentBrain is a really good information source however, just not good at getting a real indicative quote..

And before anyone shoots me down PS / FDMS are not on it..

www.cardchecker.co.uk

Hope this helps..

Mark

 

[CharityClear]

Link doesn't work.

 

[LMDServicesUK]

Ouch Sorry !!

Try www.cardswitcher.co.uk

My apologies to all..

Tx also to CharityClear for spotting my error so quickly.

 

[CharityClear]

First I've come across that site, looks ok. Is it just 3rd party suppliers of merchant services it recommends?

It also isn't clear how it promotes payment gateways. On PaymentBrain a merchant can work out what payment gateway will offer the best rates based on figures they enter. A payment gateway provider will then usually be able to assist in the application for the merchant account anyway. We monitor the market regularly and promote whoever is offering the best rates at the time.

Marc.

 

[CardswitcherUK]

Hi Marc/Payment Brain and Bfahlgren
To introduce CardswitcherUK - it is the only UK price comparison website for merchant services.

We partner ISO's who provide merchant accounts from various acquirers Streamline, Lloyds, AIB, etc and who provide various gateways WorldPay, Sagepay, Ogone, etc. We give instant quotes with detailed pricing with no sales calls.

All of our pricing is dynamic, ie it is bespoke pricing direct from partners (not sourced from the market) who are competing for a merchants business and because it is competitive, then it is by nature, market leading. The pricing takes account of the merchant account costs (transaction rates, terminal, PCI, etc) and also the gateway element - ie you get a complete estimate of your cost.

We don't lead on the gateway element because for a merchant of any volume, the gateway is not the most expensive part, the merchant account transaction rates are. Our advice to merchants is to focus on getting the merchant account at good rates and this is not achieved via a gateway provider/PSP. All of our partners are providing internet merchant accounts at rates not much higher than face to face rates! We have a blog article coming out soon which illustrates the costs of a merchant account from gateway providers vs. ISO's which we will post. Payment gateways can then be sourced separately (and based on functionality, etc) - you get the same product but at a much lower price!

Hope this helps to outline our offering - price comparability and choice!

Best regards
Stephen